"Here, sir!" replied the second lieutenant; but his voice sounded like a whisper in the roar of the hurricane.
"Double the hands on the outhaul!" added Terrill. "Stand by the brails!"
"All ready, forward, sir!" reported Martyn.
"Stand by the fore-sheets!—Mr. Cleats!" continued the executive officer.
"Here, sir!" said the old sailor, who, with the carpenter, was holding on at the weather-rail.
"Will you and Mr. Gage assist at the sheet?"
"Ay, ay, sir! This is heavy work. I hope she'll carry that foresail."
"She must carry it, or carry it away," added Terrill. "We are falling off badly."
"So we are; it ought to be done," answered the boatswain, as he began to overhaul the sheets.
It was with the greatest difficulty that any one could stand up on deck. The billows were momentarily increasing, and the Josephine had fallen off into the trough of the sea, and rolled helplessly in the surging waves, so that her fore yard appeared almost to dip in the brine. The outhaul was run out on the deck, and manned by all the hands that could get hold of it. The lee sheet was extended in like manner, and the whole after guard, besides the two adult forward officers, were called to walk away with it.